Imaging methods are important aids in medical technology. Therefore, in clinical cross-sectional imaging for instance, magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) is characterized by high and variable soft tissue contrasts. A wide variety of contrasts, such as T1, T2, or susceptibility weighting may be adjusted as a function of measuring parameters, such as echo time, repetition time, pre-pulses, and sequence types. In addition, inter alia field of view (FoV), resolution, and slice thickness may be adjusted. However, even with other modalities certain adjustment values, such as tube current and tube voltage in computer tomography (CT), influence the quality of the resulting images. The complete set of parameter adjustments is called a (measuring) protocol.
Conventionally, the treating physician may not choose the parameters completely freely and instead, the physician adheres to certain boundary conditions that are specified by local authorities (such as the Medical Association in Germany) to be able to bill a health insurance fund for the creation of images. These procedures may vary greatly depending on location and also differ for example within a federal state or administrative district. The situation may also occur where different contrasts are demanded for specific problems in region A than in region B.
Following installation of a new imaging device the protocols are therefore conventionally adjusted to the local regulations before the start of regular patient treatment. In many cases, the protocols are adjusted such that the specifications are still just adhered to in the case of minimum measuring time. In addition, the situation may occur where different preferences of the treating physicians even within one medical facility, (e.g., a hospital), have to be taken into account.
This procedure of the initial adjustment of the protocols has previously been carried out on each individual device by an application specialist, e.g., in the case of MRT devices. The time required for this may extend to several days or even weeks, so high costs may accrue as a result. Furthermore, such an adjustment of the protocols may not always be carried out, in particular, in emerging and developing countries due to a lack of specialists. If an adjustment of this kind is omitted, this may potentially lead to a poor image quality and/or the image recordings may not be billed.